American Idol‘s lucky seven had a mostly fantastic night on Wednesday. But when everyone does well, it only makes elimination night harder.

It’s true that top contenders at this point in the competition have been eliminated. It happened to Jennifer Hudson, who performed “Think Like a Man” with Ne-Yo on Thursday. Then again, it also happened to Sanjaya Malakar. Ryan called the contestants out one by one and divided them in two groups: Hollie Cavanagh, Phillip Phillips and Colton Dixon on one side of the stage and Jessica Sanchez, Elise Testone and Joshua Ledet on the other. Well, Skylar was declared safe. Then, Ryan put her with Hollie, Phillip and Colton, meaning the four of them would be back next week.

“I’ve never seen this happen,” an irate Randy Jackson said of having two frontrunners – Jessica and Joshua – in the bottom with Elise. “This is a ridiculous bottom three … [America] got it wrong tonight, so wrong.”

He was even more appalled when Jessica, who has yet to miss a step this season, was announced to be the contestant with the lowest number of votes. While Jessica performed her last-chance song, the judges stormed the stage and stopped her. Jennifer Lopez shouted, “Gimme that mic! This is crazy … you ain’t going home! Go sit down!”

Then Randy made it official: “We are saving Jessica without any doubt,” he said, “This girl is one of the best singers in America ever!”

Was Jessica surprised to be at risk to leave the show in seventh place? “Not at all,” she told Ryan. “I don’t expect anything. I just do what I do. Whatever happens happens. I just want people to know I’ve been working hard my whole life.”